Thursday, January 10, 2013

I say the same stuff to "aspiring" writing talent over
and over again. The bottom line is that if you don't have a finished
product to show, then shut up and go away to work on that until you DO
have a finished product to show. Asking questions is great, but people
need to do their research and bust their ass.

I
moved to LA with next to nothing and suffered from 2008 to the
beginning of 2011 and no one gave a shit until I had a product on the
table. That's what it comes down to in the end: PRODUCT. If you're
wrestling with your concepts and talking about writing but spend all
your time playing video games, chatting online, watching TV and other
non-productive stuff, you'll still have nothing to show and you're
wasting your time by pretending you're going to be a
professional.

It
isn't that complicated. Do work. Finish it. Edit it. Finish it again.
Get it drawn up. Then market yourself smartly. You cannot market
yourself with just pinups or concepts or nervous conversations at a
convention. You have to have a product in hand. There's NOTHING that
Gail Simone wrote in that piece that hasn't been repeated by hundreds of other acclaimed writers on multiple occasions.

More
often than not, there's NOTHING holding a writer back other than their
own crappy personal life habits. When I was starting out, the internet
had little to no information about breaking into the business as a
writer, and this meant that I had to do my own footwork, my own
research, I had to shake a lot of hands and have a lot of people scoff
at me for trying to learn more about the path to success. Now,
google.com can provide you that same information for free. Without the cynicism and snark from petulant jerks.

There
are many sites like my WRITING FOR ROOKIES podcast that provide you a ton of information for
free. If you're still wringing your hands and wondering why your career
isn't where you want it to be, it's usually because you're sitting on
your ass wringing your hands instead of writing with them.

I am one of the most supportive professionals out there when it comes to working with new and unpublished writing talent. Me and a few of my comrades regularly give panels at conventions like WonderCon, Stan Lee's COMIKAZE, PopCon LA, etc. and I will continue to be a resource for new writers.

However, there comes a time when you need to move beyond the "fledgling" status and move to becoming a producer of content. It's really that simple.

For those serious about learning the comic book writing format, I am teaching a course on February 2nd, 2013 in Los Angeles. Check it out: